


Through Her Own Eyes

by Hufflepuff_Writer



Category: The Conjuring (Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 05:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18359864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hufflepuff_Writer/pseuds/Hufflepuff_Writer
Summary: Ruth Warren was adopted by Ed and Lorraine as a toddler. They adopted her because of her gift. Like her mother, she was a clairvoyant. This is her story.Based on the first Conjuring movie.





	1. Chapter 1

"Ruth, can you get Judy up please?" Lorraine, Ruth's adoptive mother, called to her from the kitchen. Ruth walked down the hallway to her little sister's room, opening the door and turning on the light.

"Mom said to get up," she called before walking towards the kitchen. She could hear Judy moving around in the bed before small footsteps started following her. When they got in the kitchen, Ed was also in there.

"Morning dad," Ruth said as she sat next to him.

"Morning, girls," he said after taking a sip of coffee. Ruth took a mug from the middle of the table and poured herself some coffee as Lorraine brought a stack of pancakes over to the table and sat on Ed's other side.

"Don't forget about that lecture we have this afternoon," Lorraine reminded her husband as everyone started getting their own pancakes, Ruth helping out Judy.

"Can I come?" Ruth asked, looking between her parents eagerly. Ed and Lorraine exchanged glances, looks that Ruth had been very familiar with. "Please?"

The Warren's had adopted Ruth when she was three years old. Her parents had abandoned her because they said she was "too different." When the Warren's heard what her birth parents cited that she'd done as a toddler, they knew they needed to help her. Like Lorraine, Ruth was a clairvoyant. The only problem is that her gift sometimes had a mind of its own and was far more intense than what Lorraine experienced most of the time. She'd been with them to investigate a couple of haunted places in her later teen years, but some of her experiences made Ed and Lorraine concerned for her safety, both physically and spiritually. Now at 25, she wanted to try to help them more. Ruth felt like she would have more control on the way her gift worked, but she would never truly know if she didn't test things out. Her parents were going to give a lecture at a university later that afternoon, and she'd heard the lecture plenty of times before, but she still wanted to go. Something about this particular lecture called out to her, like she needed to be there.

"Fine, you can come," Ed said to his oldest child with a small smile. "You'll have to stay behind the stage, though."

"Thank you!" Ruth said, jumping out of her seat to give her father a quick hug.

Ruth always found the questions people asked at those lectures to be boring, or stupid. Her parents took the bad questions like champions – way more level-headed than she ever could. The people that came to their house to see the artifact room weren't always nice, either. Anyone ever asked about was the Annabelle doll since her parents had worked on that case. And the house in Amityville. Even though Ruth hadn't been there for that, she could feel the things that had happened to her mom there. The exorcism, the poltergeist activity, all of it. She'd talked to her mom about it not long after they'd gotten home from it but wouldn't dare say anything to her dad. It would make him worry too much and he was already worried about Lorraine with her gift. Adding to that worry didn't sound like a very good idea. She always felt drawn to Annabelle, too, since they'd brought the doll home in 1968, but neither of her parents knew that. After a while she was able to ignore the feeling, but it was stronger when her parents were away. She knew Judy didn't have the same gift as her or their mother, and often wondered if she resented her for that. Sometimes they would get into arguments over nothing, but Ruth knew sometimes it was about that.

One day, Ruth was outside with Lorraine, Judy, and their Nana, feeding their chickens. She heard Ed walking out of the house before Lorraine did and looked over to see him coming up to the gate. She half-listened to the conversation between her parents before Lorraine followed her husband over to their car. She could tell just by their body language that whatever they were talking about had to do with a new case. She hadn't been anywhere near a haunted place in months, and she wanted to go with them this time.

"Can I go with you?" Ruth asked her dad after Lorraine walked back into the house. "Please?"

Ed looked away from Ruth and sighed before giving her a serious look.

"Fine," he said, Lorraine coming up behind him.

"What?" she said, looking over to her oldest daughter.

"Dad said I could go with you this time," Ruth said with a grin, crossing her arms in satisfaction. Lorraine gave her husband a stern look but didn't protest before getting into the front seat of the car.

At the house Father Gordon had asked them to check out, Ruth was trying hard not to act bored. It only took her walking into the house to know that there was no paranormal activity going on – it was just an old house. And the young couple who lived there were just scared because of some old pipes and creaky floorboards.

"Can I start doing this stuff more with you guys?" Ruth asked when they were on the way home. "We all know about my gift, but I never get to use it. If I don't get to use it, how can I get control of it? I want to be able to help people, too."

"Ruth, we've talked about his," Lorraine said sternly. "I know you want to work on your gift, but it's too dangerous for you. You could get hurt."

"Like you couldn't?"

"For you it would be worse."

"Your mother's right," Ed said, glancing back at Ruth. "We can't let you just walk into some place that's haunted and expect you to come out of it safe. At least not every time."

"Why not? I'm an adult, I can make these decisions on my own."

"Ruth, no," Lorraine looked back at her, deadly serious. "I cannot allow you to put yourself in that much danger."

Ruth decided not to argue about it further just yet and sat in the back seat silently until they got home. She would have to talk to them in the morning to give all them time to think clearly about it.

"Ruth, we have talked about this time and time again. You are not going to start working on cases with us," Lorraine said the next morning, even more sternly than the previous night. "If you want to come with us for these lectures, that's fine. But I'm not going to allow you to put yourself in danger like that."

"You know you're being a huge hypocrite about this," Ruth shot back, trying not to yell.

Ed had gotten himself out of the argument early on, knowing what he had to say wouldn't be very important, and that it would be the same thing Lorraine had to say on the matter. "You go into these places all the time. You're risking your own neck to save people! Why can't I do the same?"

"You don't have a good hold on your abilities," Lorraine countered. "I do most of the time. And I don't want to see you hurt."

Ed could hear footsteps going down the hallway before hearing the front door open and close a little too loudly. It wasn't long until Lorraine walked into the kitchen, rubbing her temple.

"What are we gonna do, Ed?" she said, sitting at the kitchen table with him. "She's been asking about going with us on cases more and more. I'm just not sure what to do about it anymore."

"I don't either," Ed admitted, taking his wife's hand. "And she was right last night – she is an adult now. It should be up to her if she wants to get into this with us. I don't want her to just as much as you don't, but maybe it's time she did."

Lorraine gave him a steady look and thought about what they would do about Ruth. She knew Ruth would eventually find a way to do things on her own if they didn't let her go with them on cases – she'd done it before as a teenager. But her experience back then was enough to scare her off from doing things on her own again.

"I guess she can go with us on our next case," Lorraine finally gave in. "But that means she needs to start coming to every lecture we give, too."

"I'll go find her and tell her," Ed said with a small smile as he stood from the table. He knew where Ruth probably was – she enjoyed climbing trees even in her 20s. He found her in the tree next to the driveway, singing quietly to herself. She did that when she needed to calm down. "Hey," he called up to her, giving her a smile when she looked down at him. "You mother and I have been talking about you going on cases with us."

Ruth tried not to seem interested, but Ed knew her better than that. After a moment she climbed down the tree to face her father.

"What did mom say?" she asked, refusing to look him in the eye.

"She's just worried about you in those situations," Ed said, making Ruth look him in the eye. "And so am I, but I think I've convinced her that since you're an adult now you should be able to make those decisions yourself."

"So, what's the catch?" Ruth asked with a small smile. She could just tell by his tone of voice that there had to be a catch to this deal.

"You have to start going with us to lectures," he said with a bemused expression. "All of them."

Ruth hugged her father tightly, catching him off guard a little. She was grinning when she faced him again and started back into the house.

"Is she still mad at me?" she asked Ed as they walked through the front door.

"Of course not," Ed replied, closing the door behind him. "Just protective. And worried."


	2. Chapter 2

Ruth was going with her parents to a lecture they were doing on demonic possession at a college in Massachusetts. She'd only heard this lecture a couple times before and had never actually seen any of the footage from the exorcism Ed focused his lecture around. Instead of being more behind the scenes, she sat in the audience to listen. She wanted to learn everything she could from her parents about paranormal entities. While she didn't always like watching the things her parents had done previously, she knew it would be just one way to learn more about what they did.

After the lecture, Ruth was helping her parents but their gear back into the car to go home when Drew, their assistant, came up to them with a woman. After Drew explained that she wanted to talk to them, he left.

"How can we help you?" Lorraine asked, turning to the woman.

"There's something horrible happening in my house," the woman said, sounding scared. Ruth took one look at her and knew she was experiencing something really bad at home, but she let her parents talk to the woman. "Could you come and take a look?"

"You know, uh, it's getting kind of late," Ed replied, also facing the woman. "We really need to be heading to our family."

"No, you don't understand," the woman said, having almost cut him off.

"But we do." Ruth wasn't liking the tone her dad was taking with the woman. "There's usually some sort of rational explanation."

"I have five daughters that are scared to death," the woman pleaded. "I'm so afraid this thing wants to hurt us. You have two daughters. Wouldn't you do anything you could to protect them?"

Lorraine and Ed exchanged looks before looking back to Ruth. She sympathized with the woman. Something about their house was obviously scaring her and the rest of her family.

"Please. Please can you come take a look?" the woman begged. Eventually Lorraine looked over to Ed and nodded,

"Of course, we will," she said, giving the woman a warm smile.

"I can come this time, right?" Ruth asked once the woman had given them her address. "I mean, it's not like we can just drive me home since I didn't drive my car this time."

"I guess we can't exactly lock you in the car once we get there," Ed said sarcastically with a smile. Ruth smirked as she got in the back seat of the car before Ed drove away from the college, starting towards Rhode Island.

When they got to the house, Ruth had a bad feeling about the place. Everything about it screamed negative energy, even the creek in the distance. She knew right then that if they didn't help the family, someone was going to get hurt.

Ruth watched as her parents looked around the Perron's home; she could tell her mom felt something once they were inside the house, and her dad was quickly beginning to believe the mother that something was really wrong with that house. Their family seemed so nice and Ruth only hoped they would be able to help. She noticed when Lorraine looked at one of the photos sitting on a table upstairs and also looked, wondering why they would just fly off the walls like Carolyn said they did. When Lorraine asked to see the cellar, Ruth had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Even before they reached the door to go down there, she had this really negative feeling about it.

"Ruth, are you alright?" Lorraine asked as they followed the Perrons to the cellar entrance. Carolyn noticed this and wondered what Lorriane meant.

"I'm fine, mom," Ruth said with a forced smile. Lorraine gave her what she called "the look" – she knew Ruth wasn't telling the truth and would want to talk about it later. They all went into the cellar and Ruth watched her mom get to work. She stood in the middle of the room and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.

"You picking up anything in here, hon?" Ed asked his wife from behind her. Ruth came up beside her mom and touched her shoulder, seeing what Lorraine had just seen.

"Something awful happened here, Ed," she said with a grave look. She looked over at Ruth. "Is that why you didn't want to come down here, Ruth?"

Ruth nodded slowly, looking towards the floor. She knew Lorraine probably felt what she had been feeling before entering the cellar since she touched her.

After taking a look in the cellar, they all went back upstairs, and Carolyn made coffee for everyone.

"Those bruises, they something that happened here?" Ed asked Carolyn when he noticed her arm.

"Oh, it's some iron deficiency thing I have," Carolyn said nervously. Ruth knew better, and she thought her mom did, too.

"You know, with all that's been going on, why haven't you just moved out?"

"Well, I don't know where we'd move to, you know?" Roger, the father, said. "We got all our money tied up in this place and had a lot of repairs on top of that. And I don't now anybody who's gonna take in a family of seven indefinitely. That's why we tracked you down."

"We're glad you found us. Alright, let's get started."

Ed was going to make a recording to document their work with the Perron family, starting with an interview. Ruth was interested in this, but was also interested in talking with April, the youngest daughter. She went and found her mom talking with April about the things she'd seen before. Ruth watched silently as Lorraine took the music box from April to "see Rory." She smiled at the girl when she looked at her before sitting with them, watching her mother carefully. Supposedly, you could see a little boy in the mirror of the music box. After a moment Lorraine looked to the window behind her and back to the music box with a concerned expression. She looked over to Ruth, then back at the music box again.

"Here, look," she said, standing up and motioning for Ruth to sit where she was. Ruth got up from her seat slowly, looking over to April then at Lorraine. She was nervous, wondering what exactly she was going to be seeing in the mirror.

After she sat down, she cranked the music box and it started playing. She looked into the mirror as the music played and the little mirror spun around. The reflection was of the window Loraine had looked into, and as the music began slowing down, she saw it. There was a little boy in the window, except he looked very sick. And there was a woman behind him. The only word that came to mind about her was evil. Ruth swallowed loudly before handing the music box back to April.

"That's a very nice music box," she said, forcing a smile.

Ruth stayed with Lorraine after that and followed her outside. There was something about the tree by the creek that Ruth didn't like. She followed her mom about halfway to the tree but eventually stopped, too scared to go near it. Soon she heard the door open behind her and her dad walked up to her.

"You okay?" he asked, putting a hand on her back.

"Yeah," Ruth said distantly, staring over at Lorraine. Ed walked over to Lorraine and Ruth watched as they talked, then looked up towards the tree branch above them. She'd been trying not to look herself, but finally couldn't help it as her eyes scanned the form of a woman hanging. It made her feel sick to her stomach to look at it, and for a brief moment she wondered if she really wanted to get herself involved in this kind of thing after all.

"Ruth, what did you see in that music box?" Lorraine asked her later that evening when they both had a moment to themselves.

"Well, I did see a little boy," Ruth answered with a small shrug. "But there was someone with him. A woman. I don't know who she was, but she was most definitely evil."

Lorraine pursed her lips and looked away from Ruth, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Not long after their exchange, Lorraine and Ed talked with Roger and Carolyn about the state of their house – Ruth wasn't very interested in talking about the entity she and her mother had seen. She looked on from the doorway of the kitchen as she watched the Perron's world crash around them, but it wasn't long until it was time to go. Ruth stayed silent as they left, unsure of herself in that home. All she knew was that the family needed help.


	3. Chapter 3

That night, Ruth barely even spoke to Judy once they got home. She needed rest, badly. Going into the Perron's home had drained her energy and she knew if she was going to help her parents further with the case then she needed to rest. Some time after she heard her mom putting Judy to bed, there was a soft knock on the bedroom door.

"Hey, honey," Lorraine said from the doorway, smiling at her oldest daughter. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure mom," Ruth said, sitting up in bed. Worry was etched into her face and Ruth couldn't tell what exactly Lorraine was worried about.

"Well, I could tell how being at that house was affecting you today," Lorraine started, sitting on the edge of the bed. "You look exhausted. Are you sure you want to continue helping us with this case? Maybe it's too much for you right now."

"No, I want to help, mom," Ruth said, trying not to get irritated. "You're right, being there today was pretty draining, but it was for you, too. It's not hard for me to tell that. I want to keep working this case with you and dad. If I don't, how am I going to have any kind of control over my gift?"

Lorraine looked away from Ruth and sighed, knowing she was right.

"I know," she finally said, making Ruth smile at her. "I just want you to be careful while we're doing this. If anything at all happens, if something becomes too much for you, please just tell me. Or your father. Even if he doesn't possess the same gift as us, he does understand. We can figure out a way to get you out of there if you need us to any time when we go back."

Ruth nodded and there was another soft knock on the door. It was her father.

"Hey," he said when he poked his head in. He had the tape recorder in his hand. "You're not gonna believe this." He walked into the room and sat the recorder down on Ruth's nightstand. "You'll want to hear this, too Ruth," he continued. "Since you were in the room during part of this. Carolyn's voice didn't record."

"What do you mean?" Lorraine asked, more interested in what Ed wanted to have her listen to.

"Listen." He played the tape back that he'd recorded earlier that day and Lorraine and Ruth both listened intently. In the spots Ruth knew Carolyn had been talking, there was complete silence. "Nothing the whole time." Ed stopped the recording. "I don't know. You find anything?" He looked to both Lorraine and Ruth for an answer.

"Lots," Lorraine started. "I mean, it's no wonder they're going through what they are." She stood up then, and Ruth was wide awake now, so she followed her parents into the kitchen. Lorraine had a bunch of old documents strewn across the kitchen table. "That's the original farmhouse. It was built in 1863 by a man named Jedson Sherman, who was married to a woman named Bathsheba." At the name Bathsheba, Ruth thought about the woman she'd seen behind the little boy ghost at the house, and the woman hanging from the tree in the front yard. She barely listened as Lorraine continued on about the gruesome history of the house, and eventually started feeling lightheaded.

"Ruth, are you okay?" Ed asked her, his voice sounding like she was far away or under water. Suddenly her mind cleared as the recorder started playing again, except this time there were garbled noises in place of where Carolyn's voice should have been. All three of them looked at the recorder, stunned. Ruth looked to the clock on the table and noticed it was 3:07 am. The same time Bathsheba Sherman was pronounced dead when she hung herself.

A few days later, The Warrens had a whole crew with them to investigate the Perron's house further. Ruth wasn't sure she wanted to go back in there, but she felt safer staying with the others than staying outside by herself. Drew was picking on the police officer who was there with him and Ruth couldn't help but giggle at his antics.

Once everyone started setting up the equipment, Ruth helped her dad.

"You sure about this stuff, kiddo?" he asked her as they set up some recording equipment in one of the second-floor bedrooms. Ruth couldn't help but smirk at his use of the word "kiddo."

"Yes, dad, I'm sure," Ruth answered with a smile. "I'm also not a kid anymore, you know. I'm 25. Just because I'm still living at home doesn't mean I couldn't."

"I'm not sure your mother would enjoy you trying to move away," Ed said with a small smile. "Or Judy, either."

"I know." Ruth started untangling some wires before continuing, "This kind of scares me, dad."

Ed stopped what he was doing to look at his daughter before walking over to her and wrapping her in a hug.

"I know, sweetheart," he said, kissing the side of her head. "Your mother can take care of you. You know that. And for anything else outside of the paranormal, you've always got me." Ruth couldn't help but smile as she hugged her dad back.

"I just keep getting this feeling that something really bad is going to happen while we're here."

"Well, as long as you stick around with your mother and me you will be just fine."

Later that afternoon, Ruth was taking a look around outside while the others were finishing setting up the equipment, trying to piece together the place's history in her head. There had been so much tragedy on that family farm before the land had been sold off for other houses. It was difficult for her to wrap her head around it. It was also increasingly difficult for her to block out the negative energy that surrounded the place. It was just so oppressive, and she was having a harder time controlling the influence it had on her compared to the first day they'd been to the house. She looked over to where her dad and Roger Perron were talking, presumably about the old Chevy that was in an old farm building. She knew he and her mom could help to keep her safe while they were there, but she was afraid there might be a time they couldn't help her. Something about the cellar unnerved her. It was like she was being drawn to it by some kind of force.

"Ruth, what's wrong?" Lorraine said from beside her, making Ruth jump. She hadn't realized her mom had come up beside her.

"Nothing," Ruth said quickly, unable to look her mom in the eye. "Just thinking."

Lorraine stepped in front of her, making her daughter look her in the eye.

"Ruth, you know I can see it. What's wrong?"

Ruth sighed, not sure how to talk to her mom about what was going on, especially with other people around.

"I can't tell you right now," she finally said quietly, staring at the ground. "Especially not around the family."

Lorraine nodded, taking Ruth by the shoulders and walking with her towards the back of the house.

"Honey, you have to tell me what is going on," she said when everyone's voices were distant. "I can see it all over your face that there is something bothering you. If you don't tell me how can your father or I help you with any of this?"

Ruth looked towards the ground again and crossed her arms, thinking about everything she was feeling because of being at that house. When she looked back up at her mom, she had a stifle a gasp. In a window she could see just over her shoulder stood a woman, dressed in older clothing – something from the 1930s, if she wasn't mistaken – just staring at them. Ruth knew the entity wanted to hurt them in some way, or if it wasn't her directly wanting to hurt them, she was just a conduit for something bigger. Lorraine looked towards the same window, hoping Ruth wasn't seeing something terrible. She saw the same thing as her daughter and put a hand over her mouth, also able to sense the evil emanating from the entity.

"Ruth, look at me," she said when she got over the feeling the presence gave her, putting her hands on Ruth's arms. "I know this is scary. I know you've never encountered anything quite this negative before. And I know it's awful, the feelings you get from it. But you can't let it take over. You have to fight back."

Finally, Ruth looked away from the window and looked at Lorraine with tears in her eyes.

"We have to help them, mom," she said, her voice catching as a tear slid down her cheek. "They need our help so bad."

"I know, honey," Lorraine said, hugging Ruth tightly. "We are going to help them, no matter what. Just stay with me throughout this, or your father. We will keep you safe no matter what."

"I know, mom," Ruth said, hugging her back.

They walked back to the front of the house, where Ed was setting up a thermostat-triggered camera at the tree where they saw the woman hanging earlier. Ruth noticed that the police officer, Brad, was helping.

"That Brad guy is skeptical," Ruth said while she and Lorraine walked to the front porch of the house. "He doesn't believe any of this stuff is really happening."

"Sometimes you need a healthy dose of skepticism around to keep things on track," Lorraine explained with an amused look. "Stay out here with your father. I'm going to talk to Carolyn."

As Lorraine went into the house, Ruth started walking to where her dad was setting up the camera.

"Everything okay?" Ed asked Ruth when he noticed her walking to him.

"Yeah, I'm good," Ruth answered with a small smile, knowing he was really only asking about her. "Just needed to talk to mom for a minute, that's all."

With the camera set up, Roger and Brad went back into the house and Ruth walked down to the small dock, looking out over the creek.

"You sure everything's okay?" Ed asked his daughter once everyone else was back inside, sitting next to her on the dock.

"Yes, dad, everything is fine," Ruth said, smiling at him. "I'm just ready to help these people."

"We will," Ed said reassuringly, putting an arm around Ruth's shoulders and squeezing her gently. "It could take time, but we will help them. This will end."


	4. Chapter 4

After a few hours, an official investigation started. Ruth just watched her parents set up a few crucifixes and other religious items. While they were, the bell on one of the doors started ringing slightly. Ruth followed her mom to watch the door open slowly before the camera went off. Brad went to grab the camera as everyone else started towards the cellar. Ruth still had this really awful feeling of being pulled towards the cellar by something negative but ignored the negativity as she followed her parents down the stairs. She stayed close to Lorraine, nervous about what they might find.

"Give us a sign that you want to communicate with us," Ed said as he was recording and walking around the cellar. Ruth found herself walking away from her mom, towards one of the outer walls of the house. It felt like there was someone there, inside the actual wall, calling to her. She stopped listening to her dad's recording as she got closer to the wall and all she could focus on was someone calling to her. Even with a bunch of stuff in the way, somehow Ruth got to the bare wall and eventually found a hole that led to the inside of the wall. The sound of a little boy made her go into the wall - it sounded like he needed help. If it was the same boy she saw in the mirror of that music box, then she knew she needed to at least figure out why he was still there.

"Hon, you alright?" Ruth could hear her dad asking her mom. She was concerned about why he would say that, but found she couldn't make herself go check on her mom.

"There's definitely something here," Lorraine said, sounding a little stressed out. "Wait, where's Ruth?"

"Ruth?" Ed called out, looking around the room. "Ruth!"

"Ruth!" Lorraine called, her fear getting worse as she realized something had happened to her.

Suddenly Ruth was outside, near the tree the witch hanged herself in. The air was chilly and after a moment the camera went off that was behind her. Which meant something was making the air around her colder than usual.

"Ruth?" a small voice said from the creek. Ruth looked over there, initially shocked to have heard anything at all. "Ruth?"

Unable to control herself, Ruth walked towards the dock, hugging herself to try to stay warm. As she reached the edge of the dock she looked into the water, trying to rationalize that the sound she heard wasn't really her name and it wasn't coming from in the creek itself. She could hear footsteps coming up behind her, but something was keeping her from looking to see who was there. Suddenly she heard her name being called again and at the same time, someone pushed her into the creek.

"Ruth!?" Lorraine called, running towards the main stairs of the house. "Ed, look outside." He didn't hesitate to listen as Lorraine ran up the stairs to the second floor to look for Ruth. As Ed ran down the front steps, he looked out towards the hanging tree, stopping to listen carefully. He heard splashing sounds and even though it was dark, he ran towards the creek, fearing the worst.

"Ruth!?" he called as he reached the dock. He could see something disturbing the water in the distance and eventually heard a small cry for help. Without even thinking about it he jumped into the water, anxious to help Ruth.

"Ed!?" Lorraine called from the land, having also ran outside when she noticed him running to the creek. She and everyone else there ran to the dock. Roger and Carolyn held her back so she wouldn't try to go after Ed and Ruth.

"I've got her!" Ed called out from a distance. It wasn't long until they could be seen swimming up to the dock - well, Ed was swimming. Ruth was unconscious.

"Ruth," Lorraine said, kneeling next to her daughter when she was lying on the dock. Her lips were beginning to turn blue and Lorraine took her hand - so were her fingertips. Roger and Drew ran back to the house for blankets as Ed got up on the dock and started mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Ruth. Lorraine felt for a pulse and was relieved that there was something there, but Ruth still wasn't breathing. Roger and Drew were back in a few minutes and handed Lorraine the blankets. She covered Ruth with a few before handing Ed the remaining ones.

"We need to go inside," Ed said, picking up his daughter without a second thought. He ran to the house and Lorraine and Roger were both right behind him.

"Should I call for an ambulance?" Roger said, sounding worried. Ed just nodded as he set Ruth on one of the mattresses in the living room gently and immediately started trying to revive her again.

Lorraine walked out of the room, too overcome with emotion to see Ruth like that. All she knew to do was start praying that her daughter's life would be spared. She could hear Roger talking to an operator on the phone, giving them the details they needed to send out an ambulance. As he was giving the address, Ruth suddenly coughed and Lorraine ran back into the room. Ruth was bent over the mattress next to Ed and started vomiting after coughing up water. Lorraine went to her other side and rubbed her back soothingly as Ed held onto her and spoke quietly.

"You're okay," he said as Ruth started to sit up. She was shivering uncontrollably and Ed didn't hesitate to take one of the blankets that was around him and put it around her with the other blankets she had. Ed and Lorraine both hugged her tightly, grateful that their daughter was okay.

"What happened?" Lorraine asked her quietly, still hugging her. Ruth only shook her head, unable to speak at that moment. She could feel her mom's hand on the back of her head, and knew she was probably trying to figure out what exactly happened herself. Carolyn, Roger, Drew, and Brad looked on, all concerned about Ruth. In the distance they could hear a siren and Carolyn, Roger, Brad, and Drew went outside to point the paramedics in the right direction. Ruth was still shaking and had started crying, unable to control herself.

After a few more minutes paramedics were in the house to look over Ruth. They kept asking her questions, but she wouldn't answer them. Eventually both Ed and Lorraine started answering the questions to the best of their abilities.

"If she'd been in that water any longer she would have gotten hypothermia," one of the paramedics said to Ed and Lorraine once they concluded that she would be okay. "She's in shock so someone will need to stay with her for a while. How long was she in the water?"

"Only a few minutes, I think," Ed answered, furrowing his brow. Even in the middle of November he didn't think being in cold water for a few minutes would make hypothermia set in so soon.

After the paramedics left, Lorraine helped Ruth change into dry clothes to help her warm up some more. Carolyn had the heat cranked up in an attempt to help warm up both Ruth and Ed as well.

"Mom," Ruth whispered while she was helping her change. No one else was in the room, and Lorraine figured that might be why she wanted to talk suddenly.

"What is it, honey?" Lorraine asked softly, tucking Ruth's hair behind her ear. She was silent again for a few minutes and Lorraine could hear someone walking towards the room. As soon as Ed was in the doorway she motioned with her hand for him to get out and he didn't protest. She could hear him telling the others to give them a few minutes.

"Mom, something tried to kill me," Ruth finally whispered, staring towards the floor. All Lorraine could do was hug Ruth tightly, waiting to let her continue talking if she wanted to. It was another few minutes before she did. "It's the thing keeping all these other spirits here."

"Who is it?" Lorraine asked with the same tone of voice, holding Ruth to her in a hug still.

"That woman. The one with the boy. She's making these spirits do awful things, mom."

After close to an hour, Lorraine went and found everyone else in the kitchen, talking. As soon as Ed saw her he jumped up and started asking about Ruth.

"She's okay," Lorraine said with a sad smile. "She's asleep right now."

"What happened to her?" Carolyn asked. Lorraine sighed as she sat down, unsure of whether or not she wanted to tell the others what Ruth had said. Ed grabbed her hand and squeezed, realizing she was arguing with herself about what to tell them. Finally, she settled on the truth. Otherwise someone else could get seriously hurt again.

"A spirit tried to kill her," she started, staring at a spot on the kitchen table. "There are more than one evil entities here, of course, but one is stronger than the others. It's making any other entity here do things, awful, things, like trying to drown Ruth. We all need to be careful, be aware of anything happening around us." Silence enveloped the room for several minutes as Lorraine's words started sinking in. Even Brad looked terrified.

"Ruth should go home," Ed said quietly when no one else had anything to say. "This is way too dangerous for her."

"No," Lorraine said, looking at him and shaking her head. "If she tries to leave now, something will follow her home. Until we can get an exorcism approved by the Church, she needs to stay here."

Ed sighed and rubbed his temples, thinking about what they could do to help protect Ruth while they were there. He also needed to figure out a way to protect Lorraine - he didn't want something similar happening to her, either.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Roger was making breakfast for everyone, including the girls. The kitchen was pretty crowded with twelve people in it, but Ruth was feeling better and talking to April and Cindy, enjoying being around little children. Her mom could tell she wasn't completely over what had happened during the night but was using the whole Perron family being there as a distraction from what had happened.

"I think I might take some of the girls for ice cream later on," Roger said as he turned away from the stove after making enough pancakes to feed a small army. "What do you say about that?" All of his daughters agreed to it, and it felt nice for things to be normal at least for a little while. Carolyn did not want to go, however, and that raised a flag in Ruth's mind.

"The late nights are getting to me," Carolyn said to her husband.

"That's probably a good idea," Ed said to her as he moved to the table with a plate of pancakes. "Why don't you get some rest? Lorraine and I can take care of things for a bit. Ruth, too."

"I'm gonna take off," Brad said suddenly, standing. "I have a shift starting in an hour."

Ruth watched the officer leave, kind of glad he would be gone for a while. His skepticism in the face of obvious paranormal activity was starting to annoy Ruth. She heard Carolyn tell her parents about how the kids felt safer with all of them there and didn't miss the look on her mother's face when she said it - while it seemed comforting, their safety wasn't a guarantee until their house was completely rid of every entity in there.

Later that day, Ruth was sitting outside on the porch watching her mom do laundry for the family. It wasn't something she was used to seeing really, but with them being out at the house, in the countryside of Rhode Island, it was fitting. Her dad was talking to her, too. She had a small notebook with her and began writing down a few notes about everything that had happened at the house so far, trying to avoid writing about what she'd experienced the previous night but knowing the information was on paper might be useful someday.

"Ruth, you wanna come help me out with this?" Ed called over to her as he was walking away from Lorraine and towards the old Chevy that was broken down. Ruth smiled and nodded, putting her notebook and pen on the bench swing she'd been sitting on. She noticed her mom watching her carefully as she went to catch up with Ed.

As she was catching up to her dad, Ruth noticed that the wind was beginning to pick up considerably, which wasn't normal considering how nice of a day it was. Dark clouds started coming in and the wind chime on the porch was making a lot of noise. Ruth looked over to her mom and noticed that she was hurrying to get the linens off the clothesline to go inside.

"I'm gonna go help mom…" Ruth trailed off, walking away from Ed to find out what was going on. While she was walking over there, Lorraine turned to one bed sheet to take it down but before she could, it came off the clothesline and wrapped around a figure before flying up to the bedroom where Carolyn was asleep. Ruth stopped and looked at the window, seeing the woman she'd seen the previous night up there. When the figure walked out of sight of the window Lorraine started running into the house and Ruth wasn't far behind her.

"Ruth, you stay down here," Lorraine said when she realized Ruth was following her.

"Mom, I saw it, too," Ruth said as she continued following her to the bedroom Carolyn was sleeping in. When they got into the room Carolyn wasn't laying down anymore, but she was just in the bathroom. Lorraine was still panicking, though, because the bathroom door wouldn't open.

"Carolyn!" Lorraine called, banging on the door. "Are you okay!? Carolyn, open the door." She tried the doorknob and Ruth watched helplessly, not sure what to do. "Carolyn, open up!" Lorraine started banging on the door again and she and Ruth could hear Carolyn gagging. After a moment Lorraine turned around and went into the hallway, to the other door that led to the bathroom. Ruth ran into her when she stopped and saw Carolyn opening the door. "Are you okay?" Lorraine asked, still very worried about what was going on. "Are you sick?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Carolyn said with a weak smile, walking past Lorraine and Ruth. But something wasn't quite right to Ruth. Carolyn didn't seem to be herself. "I woke up just feeling a little nauseous. That's all."

"I thought I saw-"

"I hear Roger and the girls. One minute."

Carolyn finally got past Lorraine and went downstairs to meet the others. Ruth looked to her mom and knew better than to think Carolyn was okay. She just didn't say anything right then. The girls came into the house just then and Carolyn greeted them like usual, but Ruth and Lorraine just stood back and watched.

"Did you see her in the window, too?" Lorraine asked Ruth as they watched, rubbing a hand on the back of her neck. "The witch?"

"Yeah, I did," Ruth answered with a nod. "And I saw the figure covered with that sheet before it flew up to the window." They stood in silence before Ruth continued, "Mom, I think something is wrong with Carolyn. It's not like she can help it - if this is what I think it is then she has no control over it at this point - but something is definitely up."

"I agree," Lorraine said with a sigh. "I just know we won't be able to do anything about it yet. To even get a priest out here to cleanse the house would take a lot more time than this family has."


	6. Chapter 6

That night, Ruth was sitting in the living room with her parents while the family was trying to sleep. Brad was getting coffee and was bringing her some, but while he was in there Ruth heard a faint voice say, "Look what she made me do." She furrowed her brow and looked towards the back of the house, hearing Brad's footsteps.

"What is it?" Lorraine asked, noticing Ruth's concerned expression. Ruth leaned over in her seat to try to see to the back door, but eventually sat straight again.

"Nothing," she said slowly, still looking towards the back door. "I thought I heard something but it must've been Brad."

After a moment Ruth heard the back door open and looked that way again, on high alert. She thought she felt someone there, but wasn't completely sure. Standing, she decided to find a book to read.

"Hey mom, where's your bag?" she said as she walked through the room. "Can I borrow the book you brought with you?"

"Sure honey," Lorraine said, also standing up. "It's by the coat rack." She followed Ruth into the foyer and got the book out for her. "Now are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Ruth said as they walked back into the living room. "Just trying to find something to occupy my brain. Too many spirits trying to get in there."

"I'm sorry," Lorraine said, suddenly sounding guilty. "If there was a way I could help you with that I would. But it usually just takes practice to get that out of your head."

"Yeah I've noticed," Ruth said with dry sarcasm after sitting back down.

"Hey," Ruth heard Brad say from the kitchen suddenly.

"Did you hear that?" she said to her parents, putting her book on the couch and standing up.

"Hear what?" Ed replied, looking over to his daughter with his brow furrowed. "Are you sure you're okay, Ruth? Tell us what's going on."

Ruth started walking towards the kitchen and a loud crash from the laundry room could be heard, making everyone including Carolyn and Roger run to see what was going on. Drew wasn't far behind them, either.

"Ed! Ed!" Brad called as they rushed to find him.

"Dude, you okay?" Drew asked, being the first to reach the laundry room.

"Hold up, Brad. What's going on?" Ed asked him, helping him up from the floor.

"I saw someone," Brad said in a panic, looking behind the drying laundry again for whoever he'd seen. "There was a woman dressed as a maid."

From the foyer one of the cameras went off, causing everyone to run back in there to see what was going on.

"Ed, we're getting something," Lorraine said from beside Ruth, pointing to the stairs. She and Ruth watched as Cindy was walking up the stairs. Everyone else ran up to them and Roger pushed past everyone to get to Cindy.

"It's just Cindy, she's sleepwalking," he said as he tried to grab her.

"No, no, no, no, wait, wait, we need this," Ed said, holding Roger back.

"Why do we need pictures of Cindy?"

"She didn't trigger it."

"What do you mean she didn't trigger it?"

"Somebody's with her."

Ruth put a hand on her mom's arm as she watched Cindy, worried.

"What is it, hon?" Lorraine said quietly, searching Ruth's face for what might be bothering her.

"I can see who's with her," Ruth whispered. Then the door to Nancy's room slammed shut behind Cindy. Roger started running up the stairs and everyone else wasn't far behind, hoping that Cindy wouldn't get hurt. Drew ran to the living room where the audio equipment was set up and Ruth could see the flash from the camera going off nonstop.

"Who's with her, Ruth?" Lorraine asked sternly, both of them staying behind the others.

"The little boy," Ruth said, trying not to sound concerned. "Rory. He doesn't want to hurt her, mom."

"There's someone else in there with her!" Drew called from downstairs. Roger and Ed were trying to get in the door with no luck and Lorraine ran downstairs to listen to the audio Drew was getting. "I'm hearing another voice. Here, listen."

"Follow me. This way," the voice said. At that point even Ruth could hear it from the doorway. "This is where hide."

Finally the door came open and Roger and Ed ran into the room. Ruth ran downstairs to her mom, getting a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Something bad is going to happen," she said after Lorrain took the headphones off. "Not to Cindy," she reassured them when she saw the panicked looks on Lorraine's and Drew's faces. "Cindy is fine." She could hear Roger, Ed, and Brad walking around above them, looking for Cindy.

"Ed, where'd she go!?" Roger asked, panicking. Ruth ran into the room then and could tell her dad had thought of something.

"Brad, get the UV light," he said without looking at him. Brad gave him a confused look, not knowing what he was talking about.

"The what?" he asked incredulously.

"Just ask Drew."

"Drew, I need a UV light," Brad called as he ran down the stairs.

Ruth helped to look for Cindy, but had a feeling they wouldn't be able to find her without that UV light to show her footprints. Brad ran in just then, handing Ed the UV light.

"Turn off the light," Ed instructed, getting the light ready. Once the light was off it was easy to see where Cindy had been walking - it led into the wardrobe. Ruth also noticed how cold it was in the room, a sure sign that a spirit had been in the room recently.

"Hit the lights," Ed said suddenly, making Ruth walk over to the wardrobe. He'd opened up a panel at the back of the wardrobe, where there was a hole in the wall. He crawled into the wardrobe to look into the wall and a second later came back out. "Found her," he said, relieved. Roger looked relieved, too, as Ed got Cindy out from the wall. By then everyone was awake and watching either from inside the room or in the doorway and dispersed when Roger started carrying Cindy back downstairs. Ruth hung back with her mom and noticed April was still looking towards the wardrobe.

"That's where Rory hides when he's afraid," April said to Lorraine. Ruth also noticed that April was holding the music box. Lorraine looked over to the wardrobe, and by the look on her face Ruth could tell she had an idea.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Ruth asked her when she started walking to the wardrobe.

"Hand me a flightlight," Lorraine said, reopening the panel that led to the hole in the wall. Ruth pursed her lips and handed her mom a flashlight, worried about what might happen. She watched the wardrobe carefully as Lorraine climbed in and went into the wall to look around.

"Mom," she mumbled to herself, her arms crossed. "Be careful."

By then Ed was back in there and was holding another flashlight at the hole in the wall, and Lorraine came back over to the hole.

"Hon, can you hand me April's music box?" she asked Ed. He went and got the music box from April, who was sitting on the bed, and handed it to Lorraine.

"Dad," Ruth said, catching his attention because of the concerned tone of her voice. "I don't have a good feeling about this. At all."

"What do you mean?" he said, looking towards her briefly.

"Something bad is going to happen."

Not long after she said that, a crash could be heard from inside the wall and Lorraine screamed.

"Lorraine!" Ed called, going back to the wardrobe to look for her. "No. No."

Everyone ran out to the hallway and Ruth instructed April to go back to her sisters - she would go get the music box back for her after they found Lorraine. She led April downstairs as Ed started banging on walls, trying to figure out where Lorraine might have gone. As soon as April was safe, Ruth ran to the cellar door, but no one else seemed to notice that she was going down there.

"Mom?" Ruth called out cautiously as she walked down the stairs. She could still hear her dad above her, but suddenly the cellar door slammed shut behind her. In front of her, something pushed down on the keys on the old piano, making her jump. "Mom?" she called again, finally reaching the bottom of the steps.

"Look what she made me do!" was screamed into the left ear, making her yelp before something grabbed her and slammed her against the wall to her left.

"Ruth!?" Lorraine called weakly from the other side of the cellar. Ruth was unable to respond - something was choking her.

"Look what she made me do!" was all Ruth could hear, and it was so loud her ears started ringing. She cried out involuntarily when she felt a sharp pain in both wrists, but she was losing oxygen so her scream died down quickly. After a moment she could feel something liquid running down her hands - probably blood. Suddenly she heard April's music box playing, but it was soft from where she was. She could also hear another woman's voice, but couldn't make out the words. After a moment something threw her against another wall, this time sort of behind the stairs. She heard her mom scream then, but Ruth was slammed against another wall and knocked unconscious.

Lorraine ran for the stairs as soon as she felt safe enough to do so, but something caught her necklace that Judy had given her - most likely the spirit of the witch. Somehow she got it off and started calling for Ed. A she ran up the stairs, Ed opened the door and was relieved to see that she was okay.

"Ed, I know what she did," Lorraine said as she ran out of the cellar.

"I got ya," Ed said, no really paying attention to what Lorraine was saying.

"I know what she did," Lorraine said again as she ran into the living room, Ed close behind her. "I know what she did."

"What?" Ed asked, trying to figure out what Lorraine was talking about.

"She possessed the mother to kill the child. She visits Carolyn every night. That's what the bruise marks are! She'd feeding off of her!"

"Wait, where's Ruth?" Roger said, looking around the room. He'd noticed that Ruth always stayed close to either of her parents, and suddenly she wasn't. Ed and Lorraine gave each other worried looks before splitting up to search the house.

"Ruth!?" Lorraine called as she ran up the stairs.

"Ruth!" Ed yelled, going back towards the cellar. He hadn't even opened the door before Lorraine was back downstairs.

"Ed, she isn't upstairs," Lorraine said as she approached him, nearly in hysterics. Ed quickly opened the door to the cellar and both of them ran down the stairs.

"Drew! Brad! We need some flashlights!" Ed called upstairs, Lorraine having already started looking around the cellar.


	7. Chapter 7

Ruth woke up slowly, rubbing the side of her head. Both of hr wrists still stung, and her hands were sticky. Wherever she was also felt claustrophobic, and she had to make herself calm down so she could figure out where she was. She could hear the muffled sounds of people yelling, and she thought she heard her name. It was pitch black wherever she was, and she felt around in front of her and started crawling. There was a very faint light coming from something not far in front of her, and soon she found a hole in the wall. She could also hear that the voices she heard were her parents calling her name. As she crawled through the small space she could see the light of flashlights moving around the room.

"Mom?" she said, a little surprised by how quiet her voice was.

"Ruth, where are you?" Lorraine said from the other side of the room. Ruth tried to speak again, but her voice was hoarse. It was only then that she registered how sore her neck also was and she instinctively brought a hand to her neck, starting at the tenderness of her skin. She didn't even have the strength to crawl around to where her parents could see her - the cellar stairs were to her right, slightly in front of her. She leaned against the wall, closing her eyes to try to gather up some strength.

"Mom. Dad," she said, trying to talk louder. After a moment one of the flashlights started coming towards where she was and she heard a gasp as the light landed on her.

"Ruth," Lorraine said, relieved to have finally found her. "Ed, I found her!" It only took seconds for Ed to find them and both of them were looking over Ruth for any injuries. "Oh, honey," Lorraine said on a concerned tone, holding onto one of her arms. "What happened?"

"Lorraine," Ed said seriously, wrapping a hand around the back of Ruth's neck gently. His flashlight was trained on her neck and dark bruises completely covered it. Lorraine brought a hand to her mouth in shock, more worried about Ruth the longer she looked her over.

"Did you find her?" a small voice said from the staircase. Lorraine turned quickly and saw April standing there, tears streaking her cheeks. Lorraine nodded and April nodded in approval before going back upstairs.

"Let's get you upstairs," Ed said to Ruth gently, picking her up as gingerly as he could. She groaned slightly when he rested an arm around her back; Lorraine made a mental note to make sure Ruth's whole body wasn't bruised at some point. At Ed's insistence, Lorraine went up the stairs first and everyone else was looking on from the doorway as he brought Ruth up the steps. She was awake, but her brain felt fuzzy.

"Bring her in here," Roger said, leading Ed over to where the family's mattresses were. Ed set her down gently on the closest mattress and sat next to her as she tried to get comfortable.

"What happened, sweetheart?" he asked her gently, hoping she would actually talk about it instead of going into shock like the first time. It took a while, but finally Ruth spoke.

"The maid," she said, leaning up on her elbows. "What Brad said he saw. She did this."

"Did you see anyone or anything else?" Lorraine asked, sitting next to Ruth's head. Ruth just shook her head, thinking through everything that happened.

"But I heard what Brad did, too," Ruth finally said. "'Look what she made me do.'"

As if she were reenacting what the spirit of the maid had shown Brad, she sat up enough to bring her arms in front of her and expose the inside of her wrists, where deep cuts ran along both wrists just like the maid's spirit.

"I'll get a bowl of water and a towel to get this cleaned up," Lorraine said as she stood and walked into the kitchen. Ed followed her, noticing the way she was looking at Ruth.

"You okay, hon?" Ed asked her when they were in the kitchen alone, standing beside her so they were both facing away from the living room.

"No," she said as she found a large bowl and started to fill it with water. "Ruth is in so much danger here. If she were to go ahead and go home, now would be the time. This spirit has her down, but because of that she isn't as attached to Ruth, either."

"You know Ruth won't go for that," Ed countered, putting an arm around her shoulders and squeezing. "She's way too much like you to want to leave now."

Lorraine smirked before countering, "She's too much like you, you mean. Too determined to help to want to leave."

When they walked back into the room, the girls were all staring at Nancy for some reason. And the crucifixes started falling off the mantles.

"Uh… Nancy?" Christine said, watching some of Nancy's hair starting lifting up. Nancy looked over nervously as the others looked on in horror when she was thrown across the room by her hair. An invisible force started dragging her around the room and she and other girls started screaming before Lorraine found a pair of scissors and was able to get close enough to cut off enough of Nancy's hair to make the thing let go of her.

"Is she okay?" Ed asked as Roger looked over his daughter carefully.

In the morning, as soon as the sun rose, the Perrons decided they needed to get out of that house. Ed and Lorraine didn't hesitate to agree as they helped the family get a few of their things together before checking up on Ruth.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Lorraine asked her daughter once the Perron's were filing out of the house, helping her stand up.

"I'll be fine, mom," Ruth said quietly, her voice still kind of hoarse. "Are we going somewhere?"

"We're going home, at least for a little while," Lorraine said with a small smile.

"Hey," Ed said as he entered the room, the sound of a car driving off coming from the doorway. "You ready to go?"

Lorraine nodded is response, still holding onto Ruth. As they started towards the door, Ed convinced her to let him help Ruth outside. Once he had her in the car, he went to talk to Roger before he left with the girls. Ruth sat in the doorway of the van Drew drove, waiting for Ed while he talked to Roger about what they needed to do. Ruth was in their car with the window down when she thought she heard the voice of a child in the distance. After a few moments, she noticed her mom stand up and start walking off towards the creek. She furrowed her brow and sat up, deciding she needed to see what she was doing in case something bad might happen. She got out of the car slowly and tried not to catch anyone's attention as she started towards the creek. As she followed her mom, she heard the voice clearly. It sounded like Judy saying "mommy." Ruth had to stop walking then, putting her hands on her knees to try to catch her breath and watched as Lorraine ran to the dock, the voice repeating itself again. She knew she couldn't stay where she was and made her way back to the car, hoping that whatever her mom heard or saw was nothing bad. When she saw her run into the house, with Ed following when he noticed, she got concerned and tried to get out of the car again.

"Hey, wait," Drew said when he saw Ruth getting out of the car again. "Stay in the car. I'm sure whatever your parents are doing, they're fine."

"I just want to be sure," Ruth said, trying to push past Drew. He put his hands on both of her arms and tried to guide her back into the car, but it wasn't long until Ed and Lorraine were back outside and helping the Perrons get to safety.

"I'm going with you to see Father Gordon, right?" Ruth asked her parents when they were trying to convince her to stay home.

"Honey, I don't know if that's a good idea," Lorraine responded with a sympathetic look. "You've been through so much-"

"And you haven't?" Ruth countered. "I know you're going to see him with dad show him the tape and photos. I should come, too."

"Ruth, no," Lorraine fought back, more adamant than usual that Ruth not get too involved. "You have so many injuries, you need to rest."

Ruth looked to her dad for help, but he only gave her a sheepish look.

"I kind of agree with your mother," he said with a huff. "You do need rest."

"Please," Lorraine said when she noticed Ruth was about to protest again. "If you don't rest, you won't be able to go back to that house without the potential for something to try to hurt you even more."

"Mom, I'm going with you," Ruth said defiantly, crossing her arms. "I can help you with talking to Father Gordon. If he sees what's happened to me, next to all the other evidence we have, he'll have no choice but to try to get the approval for an exorcism as fast as he can."

This time Lorraine looked to Ed for support, but he was starting to look a little uncomfortable. He'd been in the middle of one of Lorraine and Ruth's arguments about this stuff before and didn't want to relive that.

"I'm gonna let you take this one, honey," he said to Lorraine, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder before walking away from them. Lorraine sighed before giving Ruth a stern look.

"You're not going with us, and that's final," she said, crossing her arms like Ruth had.

"Mom, I should go with you," Ruth said in a softer tone, trying to be nicer. She was also trying hard not to let her anger get the best of her, but was losing patience fast. "I'm fine. I can rest on the way there and on the way back, and later today. But I've been as much a part of this as you and Dad have."

"No, Ruth. You're exhausted. We have enough hard evidence with the recording and photos that Father Gordon will still try his best to get approval for the exorcism and cleansing. I think Judy would want you to stay home with her. I know she misses you."

Ruth sighed, making a mental note that her parents could always play the Judy card and make her stay home.

"Fine," she said after thinking it over for a little while. "I'll stay home with Judy and Nana. But only because you 'asked' me to." She gave her mom a small smile before walking away to find her little sister. If it meant Judy would be happy, then she would do whatever her parents asked of her.


	8. Chapter 8

That night a storm started, and one particularly loud crash of thunder woke Ruth. She sat up in bed slowly, rubbing her eyes as a flash of lightning illuminated the room for a few seconds. She leaned over and turned on the lamp by her bed, suddenly becoming much more aware of her surroundings. Something felt off. She always had an uneasy feeling at home if she ever woke up in the middle of the night, but something felt different than the usual feelings she got. Her parents being away didn't help - any kind of feelings she got at home were stronger when they were away to begin with.

After a few minutes Ruth got out of bed to make some hot cocoa. She needed something to keep her busy until she was able to fall back asleep. She walked into the kitchen silently, only turning on the light over the kitchen table so she wouldn't wake up Judy or Nana. While heating up some milk, Ruth heard the sound of the hall light upstairs being turned on. Not long after, she could hear Judy calling for their parents. She turned to look towards the hall, but didn't see anything. No lights were on, all the doors were closed. She watched the door to the artifact room briefly before shrugging and going back to what she was doing.

Suddenly the creak of a door could be heard. Ruth looked into the hallway again, noticing that this time the hall lights were on. Judy was looking into the artifact room, calling for their dad.

"Judy?" Ruth asked, walking towards her as she closed the door. Judy never even looked back, as if she didn't hear Ruth. Something was wrong, but Ruth didn't know what. She walked to the door of the artifact room slowly as Judy started back up the stairs, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She stepped in gingerly, trying to keep her mind clear of everything the room was always screaming at her. At the back of the room, she focused on the case that the Annabelle doll was supposed to be locked in. Except the doll wasn't there.

"Judy!" Ruth called, running out of the room. None of the lights were on anymore, and Judy was nowhere to be seen. "Judy!" Despite the darkness, Ruth ran upstairs, but Judy's bedroom door was open and the room was empty. Ruth ran downstairs again when she heard a door slam and heard Judy screaming from Ed's office. "Judy! What's wrong!" she asked, trying to open the door. Everything got quieter and darker, if that were even possible, and suddenly Judy stopped screaming. Ruth stopped trying to open the door for a moment, putting her ear up to it to try to hear what was going on. It sounded like someone was breathing rather loudly, as if they couldn't catch their breath. Ruth furrowed her brow, unsure of what to think about what she was hearing. Suddenly, Judy started screaming for Nana and started pounding on the other side of the door, trying to get it open. "Judy!" Ruth called again, trying to get the door open as well.

"Ruth!" Judy called, the fear in her voice giving Ruth chills. "Ruth, help! Nana!"

Soon Ruth could hear Nana coming down the stairs, and she gave Ruth a quizzical look.

"Ruth! Nana! Help me!" Judy called again.

"We're trying!" Ruth called to her, both she and Nana trying to get the door open.

"Judy!" Nana called, starting to panic. "Judy, open the door!"

"I'm trying!" Judy said through tears.

Suddenly the front door flew open and Ruth looked to her parents running in.

"Hey, move. Move. Move," Ed said, pushing past everyone to try to get to the door. "Judy, get back honey. Get back!"

"Hurry," Judy said, sounding a little calmer but still crying. "Help! Help!"

Something had her in a panic again, and Ruth felt helpless while Ed tried to get the door open.

"Get away from the door, Judy!" Ed called to her again.

"Dad!" Judy called. Ruth could hear something else moving inside the room and closed her eyes, praying that whatever was going on would stop. After a few seconds Ed got the door open and grabbed Judy just as a rocking chair slammed into the wall where she'd been standing.

"Oh god! Are you okay?" Lorraine asked Judy once she was out of harm's way, taking her face in her hands and looking her over. Judy was still crying and Ruth was on the verge of tears, too.

"There was someone rocking in the chair with Annabelle," Judy said through her tears. Ruth's eyes widened at this and she ran to the artifact room to go look one more time.

"Ruth!" Ed called when he noticed her going in there, running to catch up with her. "Ruth!" Finally he caught up to her, but she was already in the room with the lights on. "Ruth, go back upstairs," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. The contact made her jump before she turned to see her dad standing there.

"Dad," she said, taking a deep breath. "Annabelle wasn't in the case five minutes ago."

"Well, she is now," Ed said reassuringly. They both looked over to where the doll sat in the glass case, wondering how any of what Judy said happened had actually happened. "Come on."

They both walked back upstairs where Lorraine was holding onto Judy, who was still crying. Ruth went over and hugged Judy tightly.

"She's still in the case," Ed said with relief. Lorraine looked relieved.

"It's okay," she said to Judy, kissing her cheek and giving her a hug. "It's okay."

Once Judy was back in bed and asleep, Ruth went to talk to her parents.

"Mom, dad," she said, finding them sitting in the kitchen. Her hot cocoa had been long forgotten at that point. "I'm sorry for arguing with you earlier about going to see Father Gordon. I'm kind of glad I was here instead, even if I couldn't get Judy out of there."

"Come here," Lorraine said, motioned for Ruth to sit next to her. She pulled one of the kitchen chairs right next to hers and Ruth sat. "It's okay." She hugged Ruth tightly, kissing her temple. "But, Father Gordon is going to try his best to get this case pushed through to the Vatican as quickly as possible."

"The Vatican?" Ruth asked in disbelief. They didn't usually need permission directly from Rome. "Why?"

"Because those kids aren't baptized," Ed explained with a small shrug. "Makes things a little more complicated." Ruth just nodded, having forgotten that detail.

"I hope we can get the approval soon," she said, giving her parents a hopeful look.

"Me, too, sweetheart," Lorraine said with a small smile. Then the phone started ringing and Ed got up to answer it. Ruth didn't have a good feeling about whoever was calling them, either. Ruth felt panic rise up in her when she heard her dad tell Roger to go back to their house. "I'm coming with you," Lorraine said as soon as Ed hung up the phone.

"No way," Ed replied, looking at both Lorraine and Ruth. He knew better than to think Ruth would stay home willingly, too. "You stay here with Judy. You, too, Ruth."

"The only way to protect Judy is if we stop this where it started. Otherwise she's just gonna latch onto us again," Lorraine retorted.

"That's exactly why I'm going," Ed retorted.

"You think I'm gonna let you walk into this alone?" Lorraine asked, starting to get frustrated.

"I can't lose you," Ed shot back. Ruth decided not to interject just yet, knowing she would be told the same thing.

"You won't," Lorraine said to him calmly. "Let's finish this together."

"I'm not staying home, either," Ruth finally said, walking up to her parents. "You guys are going to finish this thing together, so I'm coming, too."

"No, Ruth," Ed said sternly. "This has become far too dangerous for you." He looked to Lorraine for support, but he could tell by the look on her face that she didn't agree with him this time. "Lorraine, she has to stay home," he said, his confidence having started faltering already.

"No, Ed," Lorraine said, shaking her head. "I don't think so. This thing has attached itself to her more than me. If she's not there it's going to be harder to drive this thing out."

Ruth suppressed a smile, wondering why her mom was suddenly on her side. Before they left Ruth changed clothes so she wasn't in her nightgown, and soon they were going back to Rhode Island.


	9. Chapter 9

They reached the Perron's home in record time, and it didn't take long for Ed to get to the front door. He tried to open it but it was locked, so he tried to break it down. Everyone moved out of the way when Brad came up to the porch and used his shotgun to shoot the lock and the door opened. She could hear Roger calling for Ed as they all ran into the house and to the cellar. Ruth held back a gasp when she saw Carolyn with a pair of scissors and Roger holding her back from stabbing Christine with them. Everyone immediately started trying to get the scissors from her, and Ruth saw April run off out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't much help in getting Carolyn under control so she ran after her, hoping to find her. But when she started looking around, April was gone.

The others had Carolyn, not really under control, but were able to get her out of the cellar. She wasn't really listening to what was being said because she was worried about where April went, but did hear her dad say something about taking Carolyn to the priest directly for the exorcism. Finally, Roger asked about where April was, and Drew volunteered to go find her. When they finally got Christine out the door and tried to get Carolyn to the car, she screamed in pain. Ruth couldn't see what was going on, but guessed that the entity possessing her was going to kill her if they tried to leave. Suddenly Carolyn flew back, knocking over Ruth in the process, and was dragged down into the cellar, screaming. Roger and Ed ran as fast as they could back down to the cellar, and Lorraine went to Ruth to help her up.

"You okay?" Lorraine asked her as they stood. Ruth nodded, but then had a concerned look on her face.

"Mom, something's wrong," Ruth said in a shaky voice. Suddenly she was pulled away from Lorraine and slammed into the wall next to the staircase.

"Ruth!" Lorraine said, going over to her daughter to try to free her.

"Go help Carolyn," Ruth wheezed, the bruises around her neck turning an even deeper color. "I'll be fine."

"No, it's choking you," Lorraine said, trying to hold onto Ruth to free her from whatever was choking her. Ruth was beginning to feel lightheaded and couldn't speak anymore, but then something started dragging her up the stairs.

"Mom!" Ruth screamed before being dragged into Nancy's bedroom, the door slamming behind her. Lorraine almost ran after her, but then she could hear the shouts coming from the cellar. She decided to try to trust her daughter and ran to help Ed.

Ruth could hear Drew calling April's name, and she wanted to call out but couldn't. She was inside the wall of the house, in the hole Cindy had been taken to where "Rory" used to hide before he was killed. Whatever had a hold on her was keeping her there, and it wasn't long until she saw movement in the darkness ahead of her.

"Who's there?" she asked in a shaky voice, wishing she was able to move around. Whoever was in front of her said "shhh" and started getting closer to her. Once her eyes were fully adjusted, she noticed that the figure in front of her was the little boy. "Rory?" she whispered, suddenly not feeling so scared. The boy nodded and put a finger to his lips.

"If we stay quiet, she won't find us," he whispered.

"Who? Your mother?" Ruth asked, her brow furrowed. "Is that who was choking me?" The little boy nodded, bringing his knees to his chest as he sat in front of her. "Where's April? Do you know?" He nodded again, staying silent. "Can you tell me?"

"Under the kitchen," Rory answered after a long pause. "Don't let her find April."

"How can I do that if I'm stuck here?"

Rory stared at Ruth for a moment, the sadness on his face making her feel sorry for him. After a moment he disappeared, and suddenly she could move again. She got out of there as quickly as she could to find another spot to get under the house. If she had to go back into the cellar, she would.

When Ruth got to the cellar, everyone else was tying Carolyn to a chair and she had a sheet over her head.

"Ruth," Lorraine said when she saw her, motioned for her to stand next to her. Ruth went to her mom, staring at Carolyn's writhing form.

"I know where April is," she whispered into Lorraine's ear. She looked over to her dad, and she could see it clearly on his face that he knew what had to be done - he just didn't know if he could do it. Then he looked at Lorraine and Ruth.

"Then you need to leave," he said, staring down Lorraine. Ruth wasn't sure what they'd been talking about but guessed it had something to do with him performing the exorcism himself.

"What are you talking about?" Lorraine asked.

"I have to do it. The exorcism."

Ruth drew in a sharp breath, her suspicion having been confirmed. Ed would have to do the exorcism himself, and he was terrified.

"What?" Roger asked, standing from where he'd been kneeling next to Carolyn. "I thought you said we need a priest. You're not a priest."

"Well, you got a better idea?" Ed shot back, looking over at Ed. Ruth looked at her mom, and she could tell that Lorraine was confident in Ed.

"He can do it," Lorraine said to Roger before looking at Ed. "You can do it."

"But you gotta get out of here." Ed pointed at Lorraine, then Ruth. "And you, too."

"I'm no leaving you!" Lorraine protested.

"Dad, I'm not going anywhere!" Ruth said at the same time.

"Damn it, Lorraine, I'm not doing this with you or Ruth in here."

Lorraine walked over to Ed, determined. Ruth knew she would be able to convince him to go ahead with the exorcism with both of them in there.

"God brought us together for a reason," Lorraine said when she was right in front of him. "God brought Ruth to us for a reason. This is it. I'm gonna get the book."

Lorraine ran back up the stairs to get what they needed to perform the exorcism and Ruth looked over at her dad, starting to feel scared. She could tell he was even more scared than before, too. Ed took a deep breath before reaching into his shirt to bring out the cross he always wore around his neck. He also reached into his pants pocket and brought out rosary beads, holding them out for Ruth to take. She walked forward to take them, but before she could she was thrown back and the beads were ripped out of Ed's hand. Whatever was holding Ruth against the wall was trying to choke her again, but this time with the rosary beads.

"Ruth!" Ed cried, running over to her. He tried to help her, but it wasn't doing anything. When Lorraine came back downstairs she was immediately at his side.

"Ed, go. I'll help her," she said, sounding rather calm for having walked in to see her daughter being choked to death again. She handed Ed the required materials and he walked back in front of Carolyn, ready to perform the exorcism.

"Mom, help," Ruth rasped out.

"It's going to be okay, honey," Lorraine said, trying to sound reassuring. But she was honestly terrified that the exorcism wouldn't work fast enough to save her. Ruth could barely hear her dad as he started the exorcism, her brain feeling fuzzy as she began to lose consciousness. Lorraine somehow was able to suddenly pull the rosary beads away from Ruth's neck enough to where she could breathe a little bit, but it wasn't long until Ed started panicking and yelled to everyone to hold Carolyn still. Lorraine looked torn, but eventually left Ruth to help with Carolyn once Ruth had one of her hands between her neck and the rosary beads. Ruth could still barely breath, but she could tell the beads were loosening from around her neck. Suddenly Carolyn started screaming, but it didn't actually sound like Carolyn. Everything in the room started shaking, and Ruth closed her eyes. It wasn't long until everything stopped, though, and Ruth was suddenly free. She fell to the floor and started coughing violently, holding her neck. She looked over and saw that Carolyn was no longer in front of her - at least, not on the floor. Ruth jumped when Carolyn fell and the chair broke, but she was unable to get up and help much.

After watching the others try to keep Carolyn under control, Ruth got an idea. Without bringing much attention to herself, she crawled under the cellar stairs and to the hole in the wall she was in the last time she was in that cellar, hellbent on finding April. Once inside the wall, she stood up and started walking, trying to figure out where she was. She could hear Drew above her, like he was hitting the floor or something, but the sound was far away. After turning a few corners, Ruth found an opening that led to the rest of the underside of the house, and Drew's voice and the banging started getting louder.

"April?" she called out, her voice still pretty quiet. "April, where are you?"

"April!" Drew called from the ground floor. "I found her! She's under the house! Under the kitchen!" he called out to the others. Ruth rolled her eyes, already knowing that Carolyn was probably going to try to go after April. She moved as quickly as she could when she could hear the others yelling after Carolyn - just like she thought, Carolyn was going after April.

Ruth stopped when there was too much noise to figure out where April was, listening intently. Someone else was upstairs, but she wasn't sure who. She could also hear Carolyn under the house; she wasn't far. Ruth started forward again, hoping she could catch up to her before she found April. She felt defeated when she heard April scream – she was too late.


	10. Chapter 10

Finally Ruth found Carolyn, which means she found her parents and Roger and April, too.

"Carolyn, no!" Lorraine cried from the hole in the kitchen floor.

"Bathsheba!" Ed yelled, startling Ruth. Carolyn looked over to Ed, except it wasn't Carolyn anymore - Bathsheba was showing herself again. Ruth looked around and noticed where April was close to Roger and crawled over there, trying not to bring attention to herself. She held a finger to her lips when she reached April and held onto her to try and keep her safe. "By the power of God, I condemn you back to Hell!" Ed continued. Lorraine reached down a put a hand on Carolyn's head as Bathsheba began to lose her hold no her.

"This is your daughter!" Lorraine exclaimed. "You can't give in!"

Carolyn's screams were beginning to hurt Ruth's ears, but she tried not to let it bother her so she could protect April.

"Roger, we need to get her to fight from the inside," Ed said, looking over at him. Roger nodded.

"Don't let her do this to you, okay?" Roger said calmly, looking over at his wife. "Don't let this thing do this. You're stronger than she is."

"You gotta fight it. Keep going, Roger!" Ed pushed.

"You gotta stay with us, all right? Come on back Carolyn.

"Lorraine, that's it!" Ed called up to her. "Get her back!"

"Remember what you showed me," Lorraine said calmly.

"No!" Carolyn screamed.

"Remember that day that you said you would never forget," Lorraine continued. Ruth wasn't sure what Lorraine was showing Carolyn, but whatever it was, was working. "You said they meant the world to you. This is what you'll be leaving behind."

Ruth watched as Carolyn started crying, and after a moment she bent over and started gagging, vomiting a dark substance. Ruth sighed in relief - Bathsheba was gone. She let go of April when she saw that Carolyn looked more like herself again, no longer afraid that she was going to hurt the child.

"Ruth," Ed said, also sounding relieved and a little out of breath. When she looked over to him, he motioned for her to come to him and she did, a little surprised when he put his arm around her in a hug. She hugged him back the best she could, burying her face into his shoulder. "Let's all get out from under this house."

When Ruth and the others were finally back above ground, it was morning. Roger and April were walking with Carolyn, and almost as soon as she walked through the doorway outside she looked better.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Lorraine asked Ruth before they walked outside. Ruth still had bad bruises around her neck, and a few spots where the skin had been broken from being choked with the rosary beads that were now in her hand.

"I'm okay mom," Ruth said with a small smile.

"I guess Bathsheba had it out for you, too," Ed said to Ruth, giving her a small smile. Ruth shrugged, just happy that everything was over. Brad wasn't far behind them as they went outside and watched the family reunion. Ed was between Ruth and Lorraine, hugging both of them tightly. After a moment, April started walking up to them, something in her hands. She stopped in front of Lorraine and handed her the locket Judy had given her, making Lorraine smile.

When the Warren's got home, Ruth couldn't help but smile. They were able to help the Perrons, and got out of it alive.

"I'll call Father Gordon and let him know what happened," Lorraine said once they were all inside.

"Sounds good," Ed replied as he walked past her with their bags. Ruth followed him, knowing where he would be going. He had the music box and was going to put it with the other artifacts.

"Hey, dad?" Ruth said from the doorway of the room as he got the music box out of his bag.

"Hm?" he asked, glancing over at her before walking towards the shelf lined with haunted toys.

"Thank you for letting me do this with you and mom."

Ed paused in what he was doing and smile to himself.

"I think your mother and I will probably let you tag along more often now," he said, still smiling to himself. Ruth walked into the room and over to her dad as he moved things around to place the music box in its permanent home. "She told me about some of the things you were telling her while we were there - you need to speak up next time when you see a ghost that we can't."

"Okay, okay," Ruth said with a smile hugging Ed once his hands were free. They both turned to leave and Lorraine came to the door.

"The Vatican approved the exorcism," she said bemusedly. Ruth snorted slightly and Ed chuckled.

"Nice timing," he said as Ruth left the room ahead of him.

"And if we can, then he'd like to meet with us tomorrow. There's a case in Long Island he'd like to discuss." Lorraine looked over at Ruth and knew she was probably going to ask about going with them. "Yes, Ruth, you can go with us." Ruth grinned in response.

"Really?" Ed asked in response to the Long Island case, closing the door to the artifact room behind him. Ruth smirked as they all walked into the kitchen, ready to eat something since no one had since the previous night.

"So… I'll be doing this with you guys all the time now, right?" Ruth asked with a smile. Ed and Lorraine both chuckled and nodded, knowing better than to tell Ruth no again.


End file.
